Several alumni of Widener Law’s Harrisburg campus have played a role in recent efforts to add Pennsylvania to the list of states that have legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

State Representative Mark Cohen, a Philadelphia-area Democrat and 1993 graduate of Widener Law’s Harrisburg campus, recently sponsored a medical marijuana bill in the House. Kathy Taylor ‘96, whose young grandson suffers from a severe seizure disorder, is part of a group advocating for legalization.

A similar bill has also been introduced in the Senate, but opposition to the proposal remains, and Governor Corbett has previously expressed an intention to veto a bill legalizing marijuana for medical use.

Taylor recently spoke to The Patriot-News about her grandson’s condition for the article “Parents demand medical marijuana for kids with relentless seizures,” about efforts to pass a medical marijuana law.

Twenty other states, including Delaware, and the District of Columbia have legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and both Colorado and Washington have legalized recreational use of marijuana. Despite such state laws, however, the use of marijuana remains criminal under federal law, though two separate bills aiming to change that have been introduced in the House of Representatives.